Colorado Springs News, Sports & Business

Grant to help veterans with job search

More than 150 veterans will receive help with their job search over the next year thanks to a $300,000 grant, a Colorado Springs nonprofit announced this week. The grant, from the Adolph Coors Foundation, will help fund AspenPointe's Peer Navigator program, which employs qualified veterans and...

More than 150 veterans will receive help with their job search over the next year thanks to a $300,000 grant, a Colorado Springs nonprofit announced this week.

The grant, from the Adolph Coors Foundation, will help fund AspenPointe's Peer Navigator program, which employs qualified veterans and reservists to help fellow veterans find work.

The grant has allowed AspenPointe to hire an additional four peer "navigators" who will focus their efforts on assisting twenty-something veterans who've left the military within the past two years, said Gino Mattorano, a spokesman for the nonprofit.

"From our perspective, there's a lot of need in that population group," said Mattorano, adding that many of the hundreds of local veterans who transition out of the service each month are young and lacking experience in the civilian job market.

"They did their enlistment and are getting out," he said. "This grant will give us the ability to help even more of our military heroes as they transition back to civilian life."

AspenPointe launched its Peer Navigator program in January 2009.

In the past year, the program has assisted nearly 400 veterans. That number is expected is rise by more than 37 percent over the next year thanks to the grant, Mattorano said.